Two months from today, my pro wrestling-themed novel Living the Gimmick will be out in the world thanks to independent crime publishing house Shotgun Honey.

What’s it all about, Alfie?
I think it’s best to let the back jacket copy speak for the book, since I have a tendency to ramble on and on and on. While it’s a completely adorable trait and not annoying in any way, rambling maybe isn’t the best way to sell a book. So here you go:

When retired pro wrestler Alex Donovan sees his best friend, former world champion ‘The Wild Child’ Ray Wilder, gunned down in the street, he’s drawn back into a world of spandex, spangles, and spotlights in order to find the killer. As Donovan digs deeper into Ray’s life, he realizes that the list of people who wanted Ray dead seems endless.

Battling his aging, failing body, Donovan feels honor-bound to avenge Ray’s death when no one else seems to care. His guilt over escaping the wrestling business to build a new life when Ray couldn’t — or wouldn’t — drives him to find the killer, no matter if it’s friend or foe.

Living the Gimmick uses the backdrop of pro wrestling in the 1980s and its current climate to examine the strained bonds of a lifelong friendship and how an all-too-real abuser can exist without scrutiny in a showbiz world full of fake tough guys and choreographed fighting.

Living the Gimmick will launch May 27, 2022. Cover reveal SOON.